Ballet
by Katina Uchiha
Summary: Carly loved to dance. But that ability was taken away from her... a Carly-Centric fic written when i found out i could no longer dance. a little depressing... some Carl/Jack at the end... story is much better than summary
1. Chapter 1

A/N: a depressing little ficlette that i wrote a few weeks ago. i'm really upset that i can't dance anymore, and i really relate to Carly, even though she's not my fav. character...

Anyway, a Carly-Centric fic. enjoy

* * *

Carly walked up to the old building and sighed. The Dancer's Studio sign was hanging lopsided on the side of the once proud building. The paint of the old purple door was chipping and peeling, making Carly cringe. She used to call this building her second home, seeing as she spent so much time there. But now, it was falling apart.

Carly readjusted the bag on her shoulder and went up to the door. Of course, the lock was broken and it swung right open. Carly stepped inside and was grateful to the building's great insulation. Even though it was February, it was still warm inside.

She stepped into the lobby and saw it exactly as she remembered it to be. She could almost hear the voices of the students and parents milling about, waiting for class to start. Carly sighed contentedly and walked down a hallway to her right and into the dressing room.

Carly placed her bag down on the bench and started to undress. She pulled off her shirt and pants to reveal a nude leotard and pink tights underneath. Once Carly had the toes of her tights over her own toes, she opened her bag.

Inside the bag were some of Carly's favorite costumes. There was Hermia from A Mid-Summer Night's Dream; there was Flora from Dracula, and even the Sugar Plum Fairy from the Nutcracker. Carly decided to pull out Hermia, which was a blue satin dress with short, puffy sleeves. She pulled on the warm costume, remembering dressing back stage with all her fellow dancers, getting ready for the show.

Next, Carly pulled out her pointe shoes. She gazed sadly at the shoes, remembering a time when she could really dance and dance beautifully with them. But, those days were long gone. Carly slipped on the shoes and tied the ribbons, smiling when she felt the constricting feeling of the tight shoes. She then pulled out a bag of hair things and pulled her hair back into a ballet bun.

Carly stood and looked at herself in the mirror. Minus the makeup, she looked exactly like she did when she performed Hermia. The only real difference was the small, red triangle under her left eye. She sighed, grabbed her bag, and walked out into the lobby, and then into the actual studio.

Carly smiled as the familiar heat from the studio wrapped around her form. It was just as she remembered. She looked over to see that the wall that usually divided the studio from their "Black Box Theater" was open. She smiled when she saw the Black Box.

She set her bag down under the barre and started to do a few warm up exercises. She warmed up her body and got used to the feeling of being en pointe again. It brought Carly back to the days where she practiced in that studio, day in and day out, for her college auditions.

Once she felt she was sufficiently warmed up, Carly walked into the Black Box. Surprisingly, the electricity was still on, making it easy for Carly to turn on the stage lights. She then dug in her bag to find the CD she brought with her. She got it out, popped it in, and then ran onto the stage, ready to dance.

As soon as the music came on, the memories of performing came flooding back to Carly. She moved with the music, using the grace and elegance that she had thought her body had forgotten. It was so natural to her to close her eyes and dance the way she had been taught for over 13 years.

When the song ended, Carly felt a small emptiness inside. She quickly changed costumes and put on Flora instead. Flora was a white dress with a torn up skirt and bits of red all over. She was a Vampire, after all. Carly changed CDs and went into the back corner, ready to dance her favorite song.

As the slow music started, Carly danced her dance. It was something that she and another dancer choreographed for Dracula. It was a fun, almost upbeat song after the slow intro. It also had a lot of Modern steps in it, making it the only dance Carly had trouble with. She was a Ballet dancer, not a Modern dancer. But it was still fun. And at the end of the song, she was smiling the biggest smile in the world.

But, once again, she felt the emptiness when she stopped. Thus, she started to pull off Flora as she walked off the stage. That way, when she got to her bag, she immediately pulled out the pink tutu and pulled it on. Then, she popped in the Nutcracker CD and waited on stage.

The Sugar Plum Fairy was always Carly's favorite part. She felt beautiful when she walked out on stage in her tutu and tiara. She felt accomplished when she finished the dance without messing up once. It was so thrilling to be dancing her favorite dance in her favorite studio.

However, halfway through the song, Carly's right ankle gave out on her. She collapsed on the ground without a sound. She looked at her ankle and sighed.

Carly had everything going for her in high school. She had ballet companies fighting over her. She was going to be famous. However, when she was hit by a car just before graduation, all her hopes had been dashed. Her ankle had gotten a large gash in it that crippled her ability to dance. Her ankle was so weak, in fact that she could barely walk on it at first. Even through physical therapy, the strength she once had would never return to her.

She had been sobbing when the doctors told her she would never be able to dance again. She saw her life crumbling before her eyes. Everything that she had built up, everything that she had worked for was disintegrating.

So, when the time for college came around, Carly needed to rely on her fall back. She had amazing writing skills, so she went into college for journalism. She thought that if she was unable to dance on the stage, she would be able to write about other people dancing.

But even that proved too difficult. She could end up crying. It was just a painful reminder of what she lost. So she turned to dueling, the one thing that could take her mind off dance.

But lying on the floor of her beloved studio in her tutu was just too much. Carly ended up sobbing. The CD played until the end and Carly just sat there. When she heard nothing more, she stood up. The pain in her ankle subsided enough for her to go over to her bag and change. She pulled on her jeans and t-shirt again and put all her costumes gently back into the bag.

Her doctors were right. She would never be able to dance again. She would never be able to do a show if her ankle gave out after not even ten minutes of dancing.

Carly left the studio, having turned off all the lights and put everything back the way it was. As she walked up the road, she turned back to take one last look at the studio.

"Goodbye," Carly said simply before turning her back and leaving the studio for the last time.

As Carly walked back to her house, she felt the emptiness inside her. Getting to dance again, even if only for a short time, was the best thing for her. But now that she was done, she felt hallow. Her life had been taken from her in that accident oh so many years ago.

"Carly, there you are!" Carly jumped and turned to see Jack driving up in his convertible. He leaned out of the side and stopped the car beside Carly. "I've been trying to call you all day. What happened?"

"Oh, nothing," Carly said, faking a smile. "Is something wrong?"

"Yeah, something is wrong," Jack said with a chuckle. "It's Valentine's Day and I couldn't find my girlfriend anywhere."

"That's such a shame," Carly said with a chuckle of her own.

"Hop in," Jack said, patting the seat next to him. "You can toss your bag in the backseat."

"Alright," Carly said, gently placing her bag down before hopping into the passenger's seat.

Jack drove off in the direction that Carly came from. As she passed the studio, Carly felt herself get chocked up.

"What's wrong?" Jack asked, glancing at Carly as they passed the studio.

"Nothing," Carly said calmly, shaking her head. "I don't want to talk about it."

"Alright," Jack said, turning his attention back to the road.

Contrary to popular belief, Jack was not dumb. He had seen Carly packing her costumes the night before. He had done some digging and found out that she had been a star Ballerina. But what he couldn't find is what stopped her. But he knew that, given time, Carly would tell him.

She just needed her wounds to heal first.

* * *

yeah, so...

i found out that i can no longer dance.

it was heart breaking.

so, since i kind of identify with Carly... like a lot, i wrote this little thing.

only diff, i don't want to be a ballerina when i grow up.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2: Dance your Heart out

A/N: a lovely review by I LOVE JACK ATALS inspired me to write this~ though I can't dance myself, I can make Carly dance again! So this is dedicated to I LOVE JACK ATLAS.

Carly was nervous. She was so nervous! But she was excited, though. Jack had been an angel and paid for her to get the best physical therapy New Domino had to offer. In a month, she was dancing again like she had never stopped. One of the companies that had fought over her back in the day heard if her miraculous recovery and asked her to join. She agreed immediately and here she was, backstage of the Nutcracker, waiting to go on.

Carly had gotten the Sugar Plum Fairy, as she expected. She had on her tutu and tiara and felt beautiful, again. She also had on very sparkly make up, which made her heart flutter. She loved looking beautiful, especially when it meant that she would be dancing. The makeup artist had even been able to cover her Dark Signer marks, so the black triangle under her eye and the Mark of the Hummingbird were gone. She was standing back stage, doing small warm up exercises in her pointe shoes that she didn't even realize she was doing.

"Keep doing that and you'll wear yourself out."

Carly jumped and whipped around, only to see Jack standing there with an impish smile on his face. Carly pouted and turned her back to him. She wanted to be mad at him for scaring her, but she couldn't. Jack gave Carly her life back.

"Come on, I'm sorry," Jack said with a chuckle, hugging Carly from behind.

"Hey! Be careful, Jack, you'll crush my tutu," Carly chuckled, trying to get out of Jack's grip.

"Alright, alright," Jack said, letting her go and placing a sweet kiss on her cheek. "Break a leg, darling."

"Thanks," Carly said with a chuckle.

"Hey! You!" one of the dancers screamed, pointing at Jack. "Get out of here!"

Carly giggled as the other girls started to beat Jack out the door. She wanted to do something, but it was just too funny seeing Jack flustered like that…

* * *

Jack sat down in the audience and groaned. He made a note to himself to never go back stage again! He heard Yusei giggle next to him and half-glared at him.

"Not. A. Bloody. Word," Jack hissed, making Yusei giggle harder.

"I didn't say anything," Yusei said, biting his lip. "I'm not going to say anything about how a bunch of girls in tutus beat you up."

"They did not beat me up," Jack hissed. "They were forcefully shoving me out the door."

"They beat you up," Yusei said calmly. Before Jack could respond, Yusei changed the subject. "So, how's Carly?"

"Nervous," Jack said simply.

"I hope she does alright," Yusei said, watching the stage as the lights dimmed.

"She'll be great," Jack said, wrapping an arm around Yusei's shoulder as the curtain went up.

* * *

And great Carly was. As soon as she came on stage, every eye was on her. It didn't matter is she was just off to the side doing nothing. Everyone watched her. And when she danced, the entire house erupted into applause. Carly was so grateful that she had made it through the show that during bows, she started crying. She saw Jack and Yusei give her thumbs up from the audience as well.

It was such a thrilling sensation being back on stage. The heat from the lights, the pulse from the music, the weight of the costume, and the feel of flying across the stage in a jump were things that Carly only dreamed about after her accident. She felt so free being on stage. And knowing that she did such a good job after so long an absence was amazing.

Carly had friends that told her that she would never amount to anything. She would never be able to dance with a professional company. She would never make a life for herself. She would never even have a date. But she did. She had her life as a dancer, she was with a professional company, and she had a boyfriend that made it all possible.

After the show, the other dancers all jumped on Carly. They were congratulating her in all the best ways, hugging her, kissing her, and one even gave her flowers. Even though many of them were upset that Carly had gotten the best role so quickly, the anger was gone the second she took the stage. Watching this girl dance was breathtaking.

"Carly!"

Carly jumped when she saw Angela waving to her from the door. Carly excused herself from her fellow dancers and walked over to her former friend. Angela had been the main person who was degrading Carly during High school. Now, Carly couldn't wait to rub it in Angela's face.

"Hi, Angela," Carly said with a smile.

"Carly, can I get an exclusive interview for the news paper?" Angela asked, pulling out a pad and pencil. "I want to do an entire article on your miraculous recovery!"

"Hmmm, I'll need to think about that," Carly said with a smile. "I don't know if I can. See, I need to change for the opening night party tonight, and then there's the show tomorrow…"

"Then next week, after the show," Angela pressed.

"I can't, sorry," Carly sneered happily. "My boyfriend is taking me and his boyfriend to a beach house next week to celebrate."

"Your what?" Angela asked, his face falling. Did Carly say she had a boyfriend?

"Looks like you can't get your interview," Carly said with a fake pout. "So sorry."

Carly walked away, a smirk plastered on her face. She was happy with herself. She wasn't sorry. She had been waiting for the perfect chance to destroy Angela. Carly would never have had the nerve to do what she just did if she hadn't been a Dark Signer. In a way, Carly was glad that she had gone to the Dark Side. They have cool capes after all.

* * *

i had to.

i just had to.

also, i know a couple of bisexual ppl who have both a boyfriend and a girlfriend, and all three are okay with that. so i could see Carly being okay with Jack also being with Yusei...

anyway...

yeah! that's all that i'm going to do for this story line, i SWEAR!

but i MAY have a Ballerina!Carly come up in fics from now on...


End file.
